Cushion sole



1938. w. H. BAlN 2,126,601

cushion SOLE Filed Sept. 1a, 1936 FLESH timer/10E GRAIN SURFACE 11241 7/ by 7 M17 x Mam:

worzm g m Patented Aug 5, 193$ f 'QUNiT ED STAT Es PAT ur OFFICE 2:21am, Maine This invention relates to cushion soles and to shoes in which cushion soles are incorporated. In one aspect it consists'in a novel cushion sole H unit as a'coinplete article of manufacture ready terial is compensated forb'y a shouldered cushion maker is thus required to handle a single sole unit only instead of a number of loose pieces, including the cushion member itself, and also because by this procedure the cushion may be more accurately located and securely attached than if'handled as a separate piece in the bottoming operation. In fact, the cushion sole unit of my invention may be treated in theshoemaking process exactly as a solid single or double sole.

Another object of my invention is to make available a process of preparing cushion soles which may be carried out easily and economically under commercial conditions of shoemaking and with the assistance of machines now in ordinary use. In this aspect the process of my invention is characterized by'the stepsof gouging a cavity in one face of amiddle or slip sole, filling the cavity with a cushion'pad thicker than the depth of the cavity and assembling the parts thus prepared by attaching them to the forepart of an outersole. In gouging the cavity in the middle or slip sole there is formed atbin flexible web or cover portion which is substantially coextensive with'the' cushion pad and this maybe preferably formedj-so as "to include the grain portion ofthe middle sole, "Thegouged-middle'sole may now be attached to the outersoleat itsflesh surf me' with thecushion pad confined in" the cavity thus pro vided for} it; and gunder these circumsancesthe web or, cover 'porti'on of the sold will be bulged oridisplacedupwardly forming a raised portionin the center ofthe solewhich-isdefined bya pronounced shoulder aboutitsoutline. By -properly locating the cavity and properly selecting the -thickne'ss of the-cushion fpa'd thls raised area upon the face of thesolermay be utilized to com pensate for the thickness of the *overlasted margin of the upper and-lining materialin the-comslip o .7 F but tocoincide injoutline with' 'the forepart of, the sole 1a which it is to be usedand' the re'ar straight edge is bevelled on a. line corresponding $ubs eh l a; h

'Application septembcr 18, 1936, Serial No. 101,476

12 Claims. (01. 12-442) pleted shoe and thus a smooth duced. I i i It isbelieved that never before has a sole piece been reducedin thickness from one or both sides in a selected area to an extent adapting the remaining web to be displaced or molded in forming a'raised area in the manner above explained.

The sole of my invention is well adapted for use in the manufactureof McKay, Littleway, Compo or Turn shoes, or shoes having selected features of these types of shoes. Wherever used,

bottom shoe proit has the great advantage of presenting the cushion pad in closer contact to the foot of the wearer than. heretofore and its cushioning action is therefore fully appreciated and effective.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of preferred embodiments thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawing, in which- Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of the gouged portion removed from the slip or middle sole,

Fig. 2 is a view in perspective of the gouged slip or middle sole,

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the gouged slip or middle sole with the cushion pad assembled therewith,

view on line 6--6 of Fig.5, and

,Fig. '1 is a view in persp tiveor a r nodified. sole unit.

1., Preparing soleunit jofirny invention a middlesole or a sole piece i is first dyed forward jend' 'of the shank The slip or 'n'iiddleIsole Hi portion the solecentrally "disposed e'longated cavity l l surroundinga'thin web or cover'portion -li which includes the grain surface of'the piece. :9

The gouging'stepmay beeasilyand accurately *eifected byRpassing the sole'piecethrough a matrixsplittingmachine designed to cause the center portion ofthe piece tobulge into the path s that'itf' is preformed with: a;

of the splitting knife; thus removing the portion I2, shown in Fig. l, to form the cavity II. This cavity may be shaped and located as desired and a margin of full thickness may be maintained about the outline of the sole piece. The purpose of the splitting operation is twofold. First to form a cavity ll of suitable size and depth for the reception of a cushion member, and second, to form a thin flexible web or cover portion Ii coextensive with the cavity and of proper thickness to serve either as a molded cover for the cushion beneath the foot of the wearer, or to provide an attaching surface in assembling the sole unit.

The cushion member is may comprise a bed of sponge rubber or other soft resilient material and, as shown in Fig. 3, may be of such shape as to flll the cavity il snugly and project above the plane of the margin of the sole piece in a pronounced shoulder.

In assembling the sole unit shown in Fig. 4 the slip or middle sole with the pad l4 cemented therein is inverted and cemented to the flesh surface of the outer sole l3 which has previously been dyed out in the desired shape. In this operation the outline of the slip or middle sole ll coincides with the outline of the outer sole i3, and a permanent cemented union is formed directly between the margin of the sole piece II and the flush surface of the outer sole. The lower surface of the pad may or may not be cemented to the surface of the outer sole II. The straight bevelled edge of the sole piece II is drawn down into contact with the shank of the outer sole member directly beneath the forepart of the so that the sole piece presents a smooth surface sloping upwardly from a feather edge. when the two sole parts are assembled in this manner the effect of the rubber pad I 4 is to bulge upwardly the thin web or cover portion I! of the slip or middle sole, thus forming a raised cushion area corresponding in contour to the cavity II and projecting above the plane of the margin of the sole piece It. By properly selecting the thickness of the pad Ii the height of the shoulder formed in the slip or middle sole I. may be made to equal approximately the thickness of the overlasted margin of the upper and lining material of the shoe in which the sole is to be subsequently incorporated.

It will be noted that, by reference to Fig. 4,

thesole unit presents a continuous unbroken grain surface for the shoe bottom and that the marginal edge of the sole which is subjected to maximum strain in shoemaking is'of double.

thickness of leather. unit moreover, presents a smooth grain surface to be located beneath the foot of the wearer and in contact therewith and the cushion pad I4 is securely confined'in close proximity to the foot of the wearer. where its cushioning effect will be most effective.

The sole unit of Fig. 4 is shown in Figs. 5 and 6 as incorporated in a shoe of the Compo type. The upper ll of the shoe is lastedupon a last I! with its overlasted margin ll secured'in place upon a thin insole I 0. As clearly shown in Fig. 8 the raised area formed by the rubber pad II in the sole unit is of a proper size and shape exactly to fill the opening in the shoe bottom formed by the overlasted margin II and it is-of The forepart 'of the sole the proper height 'to compensate for the thickwearer's foot.

In Fig. 7 I have shown a modification of the sole unitin which the gouged sole piece 2| having a cavity filled by a rubber pad 22, and the web portion ii are secured to the forepart of an outsole II with the rubber pad 22 uppermost. In this case the pad 22 may be enclosed beneath a light cover or web of any appropriate sheet material or it may be uncovered in the shoe bottom except for a sock lining or the like, but it will provide the desired raised area for the purpose of compensating for the overlasted margin of the upper and forming therewith a smooth bottom in the shoe.

While the illustrated examples of my invention both include an attached half sole piece, it is contemplated that full length sole pieces may be employed within the scope of the invention. Moreover, the attached sole may be gouged from either face according to the conditions to be met in the shoe wherein the sole is to be used.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A sole unit comprising an outersole, a sole piece attached to the forepart thereof and having a thick margin defining a cavity covered by a thin web portion presenting a continuous smooth surface, and a cushion member confined in the cavity and bulging the web portion throughout an area coextensive with the contour of the cavity to form a well-defined shoulder.

2. A sole unit comprising an outersole, a leather sole piece attached at its flesh surface to the forepart thereof and having an elongated cavity gouged in its flesh surface covered by a thin grain portion presenting a continuous smooth surface, and a cushion member conflned within the cavity beneath said grain portion and causing the latter 'to project above the plane of the margin of the sole piece and form a welldeflned shoulder.

3. A sole unit comprising an outersole having a sole piece attached to its forepart which is reduced substantially throughout its inner area so that it has a relatively thick margin connected by a thin web, and a rubber pad filling said reduced portion beneath said web and projecting said web above the plane of the margin of the sole piece in a pronounced shoulder.

4. A shoe having a sole which comprises an outersole and a middle sole attached to the forepart thereof in face-to-face contact, said middle sole having a centrally disposed cavity gouged in its concealed lower face and a thin flexible web covering the cavity, and a cushion member located within said cavity and causing the web covering to bulge definitely upward to an extent substantially compensating for the thickness of the overlasted upper and lining material of the shoe.

5. A shoe having a sole which comprises an outersole and a sole piece attached to the forepart thereof and having a centrally disposed cavity covered by a thin web portion, and a cushion member filling said cavity and projecting therefrom to form a peripheral shoulder, the overlasted margin of the upper fitting against said shoulder and forming a smooth bottom with member thicker than the depth of the cavity, and J6 to a shoe bottom with the bulged area filling the then attaching the sole piece to the forepart of an oute'rsole with said cushion member confined in said cavity.

'7. The process of making cushion soles, which consists in gouging a cavity in the flesh side of a middle sole to form a thin flexible grain covering portion located within the margin of the middle sole, and then attaching the middle sole to an outersole with a filler confined between the two which is of such thickness as to'cause said grain covering portion to bulge outwardly in the middle sole.

8. The process of making cushion soles, which consists in rendering flexible the center area of a sole piece by reducing its thickness in said area, leaving its marginal portion relatively thick,'and then bulging upwardly said flexible area by attaching the sole piece to the forepart of an outersole with a rubber pad interposed between the opening formed by the overlasted margin of the upper and lining material.

10. A sole unit comprising an outersole, a leather sole piece gouged in a predetermined area of its flesh side, cemented with its flesh face in contact with the outersole and presenting an exposed continuous grain covering web, and a sponge rubber pad confined in the gouged area and bulging the grain web outwardly in a shouldered area.

11. A shoe having a sole which comprises an outersole, a one-piece middle sole placed over the forepart of said outersole, said middle sole having a relatively thick margin and a thin, flexible central portion, and a cushion member. disposed on said outersole and displacing the central portion of said middle sole above the plane of said margin to define a shoulder.

.12. A sole unit comprising an outersole, a cush ion member disposed on the center of the forepart of said outersole, and a one-piece cover member having a relatively thick margin and a thin flexible central portion, said cover member being placed on said outersole with the margin abutting said cushion member and the central portion displaced upwardly by said cushion member.

WIILIAM HENRY BAIN. 

